Types of Coffee : A Quick Guide to the traditional and the common coffee

There are multitudes of ways of how to make your favourite coffee drink, be it the turkish style made also in certain European countries, or the more common espresso, cappuccino or the coffee made in the cezve.

The Basics

The common ingredients for making coffee are same for whatever way the coffee is being made – and that is water and the coffee beans. The outcome of our drink – the final product – coffee that we will drink – and how it tastes at the end – depends really how we treat the coffee beans and what type of water we will use, how we heat or boil it and how we pour the water. Coffee to keep its natural tastes as much as possible, there are several points to keep in mind with regards to the coffee beans even since their production on the fields.

Coffee beans should be roasted by 15 months of production latest

Roasted coffee needs to grinded no later than 15 days

Grinded coffee should be consumed within 15 minutes

Coffee should be grinded and consumed fresh. Even vacuum sealed coffees loose the natural smell and feel and so no stock keeping is necessary. Depending of how we will be preparing the coffee, we should also set the grinding level. Water and its chemical content and temperature at the time of making the coffee, make a vital ingredient to our final successful product. If we suspect that the water is too hard, we can use a water tester to check in more details and continue onwards. If infact this is the case, it is wise to use filtering systems or use packaged water with suitable ingredients and softness to use for our coffee. Water temperature is also vital…boiling water most certainly will burn the freshly grinded coffee, which will then release substances that were created during the coffee beans roasting and coffee will taste a bit bitter. The ideal water temperature to use for coffee preparation is 90 degrees Celsius / 194 degrees Fahrenheit. Trick : to get to this temperature from the common water kettle…let the water boil and then wait for 30 seconds. Another option is to get a kettle with a temperature setting mechanism and then you are all set.

Filtered coffee Some also called drip coffee, dripped coffee or filter coffee – has an ideal serving temperature of 55 degrees celsius/ 131 Fahrenheit and is served in a cup bigger than the traditional espresso. There are several types of machines for a filter coffee – the easiest comes to mind is the Filter/Dripper, French press and the Moka pot.

French press

French press coffee maker

The French press is first warmed by filling it full with boiled water and then pour it out. Depending on how many cups of coffee you want to make, you should count with 1 spoon/per cup and fill the French press with the counted cups you will make. Then pour a 90 degrees, 194 Fahrenheit water into the French press just above the coffee and let it stay for about 3 minutes to let the coffee make its magic. Then pour the remaining amount of water and use the piston to press down, so that the grinded coffee keeps pushing down. When the piston is down fully, you can pour the coffee and enjoy the French press style coffee.

Moka – an Italian style coffee Easy how to

Turkish coffeeis probably the easiest and does not require any other pots or equipment other than the coffee cup. First have the cup heated by boiled water a pour it out. Then take two spoons of grinded coffe, approximately 7-9 grams or a 1/3 of a ounce and pour 150 ml / 5 oz of almost boiling water – let it sit for 10 seconds once it boils. The coffee should be poured over in steps, first the 1/3 of the cup and then in two steps the remainder of the cup with a gentle pour of the water. The base of the coffee should not be stirred too much and let the coffee release the natural aromatic and tastes. The top of the cup can be stirred gently with a spoon at the end, to create a chocolate like color foam.

Cezve (an arabic coffee pot)

The traditional coffee preparation in the Arabic countries is with the use of the cezve – the coffee pot. The pot is manufactured from copper and tinned inside. The preparation using cezve is in itself a ceremony.

Coffee should be grinded to the thinnest and should look like powder for this purpose. Then for the specific steps of the preparation look below :

Fill 2/3 of the cezve with cold water

Pour the grinded coffee, sugar and start heating the cezve

Heat until boiling then let rest

Repeat the heating and resting 3 times

And enjoy !

Espresso is the most sophisticated method of coffee preparation and also the most complicated as we will not be able to prepare it with just pots as with all the other previous methods. Besides temperature, we are here putting into the equation also pressure or bars and numbers.

7 grams of freshly grinded or vacuumed sealed coffee is what is needed to prepare an espresso. This is not the exact and only number and can be adjusted according to the coffee type so that we will get the most out of it. So anywhere between 7-10 grams is just fine.

20kg is the pressure used to press on the coffee in the coffee machine, before it is water vapoured.

90 degrees Celsius/194 Farhrenheit is the correct temperature of the water when preparing an espresso.

9 bars is the pressure, at which coffee is releasing most of the ingredients that make espresso the best – a quick and refreshing drink. Professional machines are pressing constantly at 9 bars, the common home espresso coffee machines are pressing at 15 bars as the pressure is not constant…the 9 bars is achieved in a time average…rising up to 15 at then dropping later.

25 seconds is the time it takes to make an espresso…the usual time, with few second plus or minus…do not make an issue out of it 🙂

30 millilitres is the average amount of espresso in your coffee cup.

Nutrition

Nutritional information for espresso served coffe

Espresso, compared to the traditional dripped coffee content essential nutrients, especially magnesiun, B vitamins Riacin and Riboflavin. Other than than, it contents significant amount of caffeine…which stimulates the central nervous system of the human body, and is thus the most commonly used legal stimulant in the world.

How do you make an espresso in a coffee machine ?Its not that hard, the machine does most of it and you can enjoy coffee shortly later. A grinded coffee is put inside the coffee handle, which should be dry. Make sure the coffee is leveled and then proceed to put the handle on the pressure pipe and tie it appropriately. Turn on the water pipe and check the timing, prepare the cup. In 25 seconds you should have your espresso coffee ready.

Do not want to look suprised when being offered an espresso coffee with a twist ? Here is a quick overview :

Caffee Latte – in short, an espresso with steamed milk…an extra milk that will make the coffee much softer than a traditional espresso and usually served in a bigger cup than an espresso…most likely a glass cup.

Cappuccino – an espresso with extra steam milk and a milk foam at the top…usually with a foam design and a flavouring at the top

Espresso – the base drink of all these fancy drinks around 🙂 Usually you will be asked if you want a double espresso…meaning they will add more water…in good coffee places, you will get the espresso and a hot water…and you can pour and adjust the water level in the coffee yourself.

Caffe Mocha or Mochachino – an espresso with steam milk and a chocolate powder or sweet syrup at the top

Affogato

Affogato – a scoop of icecream drowned in a hot espresso. A classical Italian dessert.